Aboard the USS Fall River, Bikini Lagoon, 1 Jul 1946, Test Able – Finally, the big day arrived, 1 July 1946 by the Bikini calendar (30 June in New York). Millions of people around the world waited anxiously by their radios for the results of Test Able. No one knew what to expect, At 0540…
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Atoll, 5 Jul 1946 – Given the serious nature of the atomic bomb test on 1 July, there were no Fourth of July fireworks on the Fall River. However, the radio room was abuzz with news about a different type of explosion. On 5 July in Paris, the…
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Lagoon, Jul 1946 – Tradition was if you signed a shipmate’s Short Snorter and met up with them later on in civilian life, if they couldn’t produce the Short Snorter you had signed, they owed you a drink. Aboard the Fall River, our Short Snorters looked like a…
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Atoll,19 Jul 1946, William Day – Today was William Day, the code name for the rehearsal of Test Baker on July 25. The Baker bomb would be the first underwater explosion of an atomic bomb. Nicknamed “Bikini Helen” or “Helen of Bikini”, the 23-kiloton bomb would be lowered…
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Atoll, 24 Jul 1946, Test Baker Minus 1 – One day to go to Test Baker, the first underwater explosion of an atomic bomb. The 23 kiloton Baker bomb, nicknamed “Bikini Helen” and “Helen of Bikini” would be submerged 90 feet below the target vessel, LSM-60 (Landing Ship,…
NBC radio reports live from Test Baker, 25 July 1946. Run time 14:30. (Courtesy of Hoover Archives) Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Lagoon, 25 Jul 1946, Test Baker – At 0835 on 25 July by the Bikini calendar (24 July in New York), the 23 kiloton Baker atomic bomb was detonated underwater in…
Aboard the USS Saint Croix (APA-231), 1 August 1946 – On 1 August, I boarded the Victory ship USS Saint Croix and headed for San Francisco. Eighteen days later, as she steamed under the Golden Gate Bridge, there wasn’t a dry eye onboard — even amongst this group of newly-seasoned “old salts” who had just come from…
For February 2021, a little bit of news… but not too much. My Mantra of the Moment This month, a friend gifted me with a little book, Empowering Mantras for Awesome Women. The lipstick mantra spoke to me (surprise, surprise) and is just the nudge I didn’t know I needed to stay on…
A New Year… 12 New Chapters, 52 Revisions, 365 New Chances Happy New Year! We’re off and running. Fingers crossed. What was the most important lesson I learned in 2020? Gratitude. A focus on what is good in life (e.g., glass half full). Gratitude has proven to be a powerful tool in my navigation…
The heavy cruiser USS Fall River (CA-131) was the Target Vessel Control Ship at Operation Crossroads, the first post-war atomic bomb tests at Bikini in the Marshall Islands in July 1946. The Fall River was responsible for positioning the 95 target vessels in the Bikini Lagoon for the Able and Baker bomb blasts, the first from…
Here we are in December and, if you’re like me, you have a case of 2020 fatigue In spite of it all, the days, the weeks, and the months did pass. In my case, I didn’t feel like much was accomplished. But after sorting out my office and updating my to-do list for next year,…
Publishers Weekly BookLife shines its November 2020 Indie Spotlight on the contributions of veterans with a roundup of 15 books on military history, including… For all 15 books, click Publishers Weekly BookLife November 2020
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Dick Wolf preps American Babylon Dick Wolf (Law & Order) is prepping a new series, American Babylon, a period drama chronicling the story of the creation of Las Vegas. The series is inspired by the book, The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America by Sally Denton & Roger Morris.…
Don your Western wear and watch a classic Western movie Owen Wister is said to have created the first romantic cowboy in 1902 with his best-selling novel The Virginian. The hero, known as “the Virginian”, was brave and honorable, tough but soft-spoken. The Virginian was portrayed on the big screen in 1929 by Gary Cooper,…
The story of the Fatal Voyage of Task Unit 32.4.4 The story began on 16 June 1943 . . . A convoy of seven U.S. ships, designated Task Unit 32.4.4, was en route to Guadalcanal. Suddenly, at 1350 (1:30 p.m.), the convoy was attacked from the air by a Japanese strike force of 120 aircraft.…
Remember the long-running soap opera As the World Turns? The series ran on CBS for 54 years from 1956 to 2010. In the 1990s, I was the publicist for a professional ballet company in Southern California. Every day came with a crisis — from getting the cover story in the paper (that was good) but…
Dear May 2020, A quick note to let you know I am no longer a writer in self-isolation. I am an artist-in-residence. – Best, Sandra For the past six or seven weeks, it’s been a challenge to fill the long days. Even with a writing and book marketing to-do list that could keep me busy for…
In 1946, Arthur Beaumont was appointed the U.S. Navy’s Official Task Force Artist for Operation Crossroads Mr. Beaumont was assigned to the USS Fall River (CA-131), Target Vessel Control Ship, in charge of positioning the 95 target vessels in the Bikini Lagoon for the Able and Baker tests in July 1946 at Operation Crossroads. The…
As Bill liked to say, “There’s only one way to write — ass in seat.” I like to soften his words to “derrière in chair.” As a writing team, we were natural self-isolationists together. We spent many days sharing a small office, not speaking to each other for hours, not wanting to interrupt the other’s…
I struggle with decision-making I over-think, over-analyze, and second-guess everything — small and large. I know I’m not alone. However, I would gladly separate myself from the rest of the over-thinking pack if only I knew how. Don’t Overthink It by Anne Bogel A new book title caught my eye, Don’t Overthink It by Anne Bogel. I…
MIDWAY screening pays tribute to World War II veterans in Napa Valley On Saturday, February 15, 2020, the The Tug McGraw Foundation – the honorary chair is country music singer/actor Tim McGraw – paid tribute to World War II veterans living at the California Veterans Home in Yountville and other areas of Napa Valley with…
Thank you, Johnny D. Boggs, Editor, for including Bill’s obituary in ROUNDUP, MAGAZINE OF WESTERN WRITERS OF AMERICA (February 2020) ________ Click on the link below to read… “Wrangler, writer Bill McGee was genuine cowboy” by Sandra V. McGee for Roundup, Feb 2020 More Feature Stories by Sandra V. McGee
Thank you to Dennis and Sarah Koller for remembering Bill today and laying a wreath in his honor at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery in Arlington, Texas.
Whose lips had sipped from these champagne coupes (saucers) from the Mapes estate in Reno? Fellow Reno history buffs Deb Geraghty and James Stavena found a dozen of these vintage glasses in a Reno antiques shop and – most thankfully – sent two to Bill and me. One evening, as we sipped Manhattans from the…